


the sharp knife of a short life

by glitteringconstellations



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Keith gets captured, Klance if you squint, Lance goes in to bail his ass out, Langst, it doesn't end well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 05:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11617086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitteringconstellations/pseuds/glitteringconstellations
Summary: I'm coming home, I'm coming home, tell the world I'm coming home.(Lance busts Keith out of the clutches of the Galra).





	the sharp knife of a short life

**Author's Note:**

> Written at 5:30 am and completely unedited. I'm new to the fandom, forgive me. Please leave a comment? Comments are life givers. 
> 
> Based on [this](http://tricodeku.tumblr.com/post/163267193426/langst-on-his-birthday-month-its-more-likely).

“Damn it, Keith, stay with me!” 

Keith did not respond. Lance heaved Keith higher up on his back and took off running in a direction he hoped meant _out_. A hail of gunfire chased his heels and Lance cursed, pushing himself faster, faster. 

“Guys, a little help here? Anyone? I’m running blind!” Static. Lance cursed again. Of course the Galrans would have jammed the airwaves. They never did make things easy. Thunderous footsteps echoed from up ahead, and Lance looked around frantically. 

“Now would be a really good time for you to wake up, man,” Lance panted, screeching to a halt. He ducked into a corridor off to his right, and just in time; no sooner had he gotten around the corner, a beam of laser shot right through where his head had been. No time to stick around, Lance tore down the corridor as fast as his legs would carry him.

He really couldn’t believe their luck, honestly. They’d beaten Zarkon—they’d won. That was supposed to have been it. They’d saved the galaxy. 

Apparently not. They hadn’t had a contingency plan for the fact that the Galra had another nasty trick up their sleeve, one evidently worse than Zarkon. 

They hadn’t had a contingency plan for the Red Paladin’s capture. 

Honestly, Lance half wished one of the others had been the one to find Keith on the new and improved mother ship. Not because he didn’t want to be here (he really didn’t), but the state that Keith was in when he finally found his cell…

Well, let’s just say he felt an awful lot like Hunk, then.

No matter, Lance thought, coming to another impasse. They just had to get him to one of the pods. Coran would fix him right up. _Shit_ , right or left? Another laser bullet whizzing past his ear made up his mind for him, and he darted left.

The ship groaned and lurched; Lance almost lost his footing, screaming as he scrambled to stay upright. The others must have been trying for the distraction that was supposed to be his cover. 

“It’s a little late for that, guys!” Lance shouted in frustration, though he knew no one could hear him. His arms and legs ached and he could feel himself losing ground, fast. He had to find somewhere for them to hide. Eyes darting around, he spotted a door and vehemently prayed it was a closet or something equally empty. 

The Galra were closing in. No time to think. He shouldered the door open and slid into the room, doors closing as soon as the sentries rounded the corner. He pressed into the corner behind the door, keeping him between them and Keith, before pulling out his bayard and aiming for it. Sweat trickled into his eyes but he didn’t dare blink. 

One tick passed. Two. Three. But the telltale clank of Galran armor faded, until it was little more than a ringing echo in Lance’s ears. It was a full sixty ticks before Lance let go of the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, sinking to his knees and feeling Keith’s weight full against his back. 

Out of danger for the moment, Lance took a minute to look around the room he’d holed them up in. It was small, maybe two or three meters squared, and there wasn’t much in the room except what looked like a small electrical panel. Great, he’d found a utility closet, and no way to hack it. He wasn’t Pidge.

Another explosion rocked the ship, and Lance felt it in his bones. If the others kept this up, they’d blow the whole thing to Pluto before he even got the blue lion off it. If they even made it to the blue lion. 

He sighed, leaning back and letting Keith slump gently against the wall. His shoulders needed the break, and truth be told, he wasn’t sure he had the strength to hold on to the Red Paladin much longer anyway. 

“ _L-nce, a—th—?_ ” 

Lance nearly leapt as his comm crackled to life. “I’m here!” he shouted, then groaned. Uh, hiding! “I’m here,” he repeated quieter, hoping he hadn’t just given himself away. 

“ _Lance, thank God!_ ” 

“Pidge! Boy, am I glad to see you. In a manner of speaking.” Holy crow, he’d never been so happy to hear her in his life.

“ _Where are you?_ ” That was Hunk; he sounded distressed. His version of worry was to turn up the Extra dial to max, he’d long since learned. It was mostly endearing.

“Currently I am somewhere deep in the heart of Galra’s forces trapped in a utility closet,” he snapped, trying for humor and coming up short. “How’s the view from up there?” 

They ignored that. “ _Did you find Keith?_ ” Shiro never did beat around the bush.

“Yeah,” he said, humor long gone. “He’s in bad shape. He needs a pod, and I need reinforcements to get him there. I’m pinned.” 

“ _We’ve knocked down their shields for now, but there’s no telling how soon they’ll get them back online. We’re gonna try and draw them out,_ ” Pidge explained. “ _When I give the signal, get to Blue! She’ll guide you out._ ”

Great plan, Lance thought, except for one thing. “If the comm goes out again, how will I know the signal?” 

“ _Just go with it!_ ”

Right, go with it. As if he wasn’t already just going with it. He gave himself a long moment to collect himself, before he pinned his bayard back to his belt and threw Keith’s arms over his shoulders again.

When they got back to the Castle, he was going to take a wicked long nap. No, scratch that, he was going to hibernate a while.

Keith more or less back on his back, Lance pushed the door open just a smidge. The coast was clear, for now. “Okay, Pidge, I’m ready for that signal now.” There was silence. “Pidge?” 

A third explosion deafened him, closer this time. He gripped the doorframe and braced himself as the ship trembled at the seams. Draw them out, indeed, Lance thought humorlessly, lips drawn in a thin line. Guess that was the signal. 

He waited ten ticks more for safe measure, before darting back out into the corridor. The Galran ship was a maze of corridors, but without the dire urgency of Galrans on his heels, Lance could hear the call of the blue lion, could feel her beckon him. He followed the call, stopping once only when he felt Keith slipping. 

The ship rumbled beneath his feet with increasing frequency, and Lance cursed once more. “Come on, come on,” he muttered. “’M almost there!” Right, left, left, straight, right, he ran. He could envision Blue in the hangar he had left her in, it was just beyond his grasp—there was the door to the hangar, he was sure of it—!

And there—standing between him and Keith and escape, was no fewer than four Galran sentries. _Shit shit shit_. He immediately ducked back behind the wall, shots sailing past him. This was bad. He hated to do it, especially considering Keith’s helmet was lost to the stars, but he had to put him down. 

The bayard sat heavy in his hands when he readied it; he didn’t like his odds. Four to one on a good day was bad odds, let alone when he had almost no cover and an unconscious Paladin at his back. 

Still. He was going to go down swinging, if he had to. They would get Keith back over his dead body.

“Come and get me, you filthy space rats!” Lance yelled, putting himself between Keith and the Galrans. They opened fire.

“L-Lance…” Keith had come to. _Finally_.

Lance was so startled, he almost dropped his bayard. Almost. He may or may not have missed a shot he would have hit dead on otherwise, but he wasn’t going to tell. 

“Keith! Hang in there, buddy, we’re almost home free!” He lobbed another round off at the Galrans, hitting one in the gullet, but before he could duck back a shot burned his trigger hand, badly. 

“ _Shit!_ ” he yelled, pulling his hand back against his chest. Bleeding and charred, the hand was practically useless. He panted, gingerly switching his gun to his other hand. “Lucky for me, I can shoot with both hands. Heh.”

“Lance, get out of here.” 

Firing off another six rounds at the Galrans blocking their way with his right hand, Lance could have sworn he heard that wrong. Keith did _not_ just say what he thought he said. But then he said it again, and he could feel Keith struggling to his feet behind him.

“Not gonna happen,” Lance growled, taking another Galran with a couple of lucky shots. “We just got Shiro back, there ain’t no way we’re losing you to these bastards.”

Keith coughed into his sleeve. He’d made it to his knees. “Leave me and—” 

“The whole point of a rescue operation is the rescuing part, and I am not leaving you behind!” Lance snapped. The two stragglers seemed to sense that Lance was distracted and lobbed another volley at him. Lance held firm, but he could see they were shifting position. If they swung any wider, they’d have no cover.

A round ricocheted off the wall and hit Keith’s shoulder armor, shattering it. All Lance saw then was red. 

He didn’t really remember what happened next. He saw the two Galrans go down, and the next thing he knew he was standing in open fire, heaving for breath over four Galran corpses. 

And he was bleeding profusely from his chest.

He touched his good hand to the wound, staring unblinkingly as it came away coated in crimson. Wow, that really hurt. He felt a wetness down his cheek, and realized he was crying. 

But there was still work to do. He turned to Keith, managing a wane smile. “There, no sweat. Now let’s get out of here, shall we?” Keith only stared at him, wide-eyed. He didn’t say anything, couldn’t say anything. Had he seen Lance get shot? Could he see Lance’s tears through the helmet’s visor? Lance couldn’t say for sure. Probably. 

Lance said nothing else, only throwing one of Keith’s arms around his shoulder.

They made it to the blue lion, blissfully still where Lance had left her. They hobbled into her mouth, and Lance deposited Keith into chair before limping over to the pilots seat. He threw the thrusters in reverse and got them the hell out of there.

Vision fading, he pulled up the visual comms for the Castle. Allura and Coran’s worried faces appeared, and Lance shot them a grin and a thumbs up. They breathed a visible sigh of relief.

“Mission accomplished,” he managed. He felt himself slumping. 

Before the darkness took him, he could see their relieved expression melt into frightened ones, could hear their panicked yells. Could hear the concern from the others in his ears.

“ _Lance, are you all right?_ ”

“ _What’s happening? Lance, say something!_ ”

“ _Lance!_ ”

Then he knew no more.

\---

_“We did it. I can’t believe we did it.”_

_There’d been incredulous laughter, even as the stress of their mission had taken its toll on them. Shiro lay on the stretcher in front of them, unconscious, but alive. Solid. Right here. In front of them._

_“We found him.”_

_Lance turned to Keith, a brilliant smile gracing his face. He was sweaty, and covered in soot, and the bayard hadn’t revered yet in his grasp. But they’d found Shiro, after all this time, and Lance couldn’t help but grin. He reached out a fist toward Keith. Keith stared._

_“Come on man, don’t leave me hanging!”_

_Keith blinked. It took him a solid ten ticks, but he realized that Lance expected him to do the same. He held out a fist, and Lance reached over and bumped it. “We did it,” Lance repeated._

_Keith couldn’t help but smile, too. “Yeah. Yeah, we did.”_

\---

_Keith had found him on the bridge. Coran had pulled up the astral projector for him, and Lance sat at his chair, staring lovingly at one planet in particular. Keith cleared his throat to announce his presence. Lance looked up. “Hey, man. How’s Shiro?”_

_“Recovering,” Keith said, coming up to stand beside him. Lance hums, turning his gaze back to the projection of Earth._

_“Coran says maybe a quintant or two in the pods and he’ll be ‘right as rain, as you Paladins put it.’” He smiles, almost as if to himself. “That we would be so lucky, his condition wasn’t as bad as we thought they’d be. Overexposure and malnutrition, of all things.”_

_“Yeah,” said Keith. He could see the twinkle in Lance’s eye, not just from the gentle blue light the projector emitted. “Excited about going home?”_

_“That obvious, huh,” Lance laughed. He was quiet for a minute. “Think about it. We beat Zarkon. We found Shiro. We’ve saved the galaxy and come out on the other side none the worse for wear!”_

_Keith leaned against the arm of Lance’s chair. They sat in an amicable quiet for a while, before Lance spoke again. “Honestly, I’m kind of scared to be going home, too.”_

_“Scared?” Keith echoed, raising an eyebrow. Lance nodded, not taking his eyes off the projection. He lifted his hands as though he could touch it._

_“I’ve had this nightmare, pretty much since the first day we got here.” He paused. Licked his lips. “About my family and all. That they see on the news how we’ve gone missing. Hunk and Pidge and I. I mean, that’s how it happened with Pidge’s dad and brother, right? They spun some story on the news, and made them think they were dead.”_

_“You’re afraid they think you’re dead.”_

_Lance heaved a sigh. “That pretty much sums it up. I mean, who knows how long we’ve been gone on Earth. Time flows differently. It could have been a week, or ten years. What if… what if they’re dead, Keith?” He sounded so small._

_Keith was totally out of his depth. He put an awkward hand on Lance’s shoulder, hoping it was some form of comfort. “Then we’ll figure out to do from there.”_

_It must have worked, because Lance leaned into the touch. “Thanks, man.” He still wasn’t looking at him._

_“Don’t mention it.”_

_Neither moved for a long time, until Lance finally shifted, turning off the astral projection. After just a few more days, he wouldn’t need it. He could imagine the seashore of his family home, could imagine feeling the rain beat gently against his head and shoulders. He couldn’t wait._

_“I’m coming home.”_

\---

Keith had never been to the seashore before. He supposed that was one more thing he had Lance to thank for. 

The townsfolk had pointed him in the right direction, sad eyes and pitying gazes when they heard the name Lance McClain. A family mourning for seven years for the lost son they’d never found. 

_”What do you mean, there’s nothing to be done?”_

_“I’m so sorry.”_

Keith could at least give them the closure they deserved. He’d volunteered to go alone to deliver the news. He wasn’t the best with words, but he would explain how their son was a hero. 

The sandy lane down the beach came to a wooden picket fence. 

_”Put him in the pod and fix him!”_

_“My boy, the pods only work on the living.”_

He would tell them how their son, their brother, their uncle, had fought valiantly and ultimately helped conquer one of the greatest threats known to the universe. How he’d taken up the task with courage after having the great responsibility thrust upon him. They deserved to know how bravely their son had lived the last seven Earth years.

The feel of sand beneath his boots was familiar, grounding. He could hear the chatter of a large family as he approached the weather-worn cottage by the sea.

_”No, no, no, NO! He’s not—he can’t be—! He was going to go home!”_

They deserved to know the truth about the life of Lance McClain after that fateful day. Not some cocked up bullshit story the media fed them. 

They deserved to see the reason their beloved Lance was dead.

He could count the whorls in the wood on the door, he stood so close to it. He didn’t want to knock. This whole thing felt wrong. He shouldn’t have been the one standing on this doorstep. It should have been Lance. Instead, Lance’s body would be escorted by the rest of the Voltron team, hours from now. 

They would stay for the funeral, all of them. They would pay their respects, stand before the grave and pray that Lance would rest in peace. But then they had to return to the skies. Lotor was still running amok, and they had to take up the good fight once again. They couldn’t let Lance’s sacrifice be in vain.

But for now, Keith thought bitterly, in some twisted way, Lance had come home.

He knocked.


End file.
